It goes on and on. Reed Elsevier’s proposed sale of its UK B2B magazine division Reed Business Information is facing a new setback after French bank Calyon declared itself out of the banking syndicate financing the deal. Reed arranged a group of seven banks way back in April in a staple finance deal worth £900 million to buy the New Scientist and Variety publisher. Dow Jones’s efinancialnews.com reports that another undisclosed bank has stepped in to replace Carlyon and quotes sources close to the deal who say that UBS, JP Morgan and BNP Paribas are continuing to back the process. PE firms Bain Capital, Apollo Management and a combination of TPG Inc and DLJ Merchant are also still thought to be in the running.

Bloomberg quoted two unidentified sources on last week who said that the total price for the deal had dropped from $2.3 billion (£1.3 billion) to $1.7 billion (£97 million) since August and such is the reluctance to finance such a large deal among the banking community Reed is prepared to put in about $330 million (£189 million) to make sure the deal goes ahead.

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